


Drinks Shared in the Darkness

by Zaniida



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Commiseration, Drinking & Talking, Gen, Post Christmas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28355334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaniida/pseuds/Zaniida
Summary: Nathan tracks down Harold after missing him at the Christmas party.
Relationships: Harold Finch & Nathan Ingram
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Drinks Shared in the Darkness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [M_E_Lover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_E_Lover/gifts).



> Day Two of the Twelve Days of Christmas gift fics! **M_E_Lover** , this one's for you. Chronologically and thematically, it's a follow-up to [First Christmas Alone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21957538); if I end up writing in similar vein next year, it'll become a series, following Harold along the years (but we all know how good I am at predicting my future productivity).
> 
> It's 10:30 p.m. and I need to go do some shopping, so I'm not polishing this up as much as I'd like before posting it. I feel like it could use a couple more passes. But it's got a second chapter coming (not sure when I'll post that, ideally during this event though), and maybe when I post that I'll also go back and polish up the first part.

“Didn’t see you at the Christmas party,” Nathan’s voice rolled through the darkness. “You haven’t been here all night, have you?”

Harold didn’t look up from his monitor, but his hands paused over the keyboard. “I believe I explained to you that holidays are not really my thing.” He started typing again, the blue light of the monitor reflecting off his glasses.

“Harry,” Nathan began fondly.

“ _Harold_ ,” Harold corrected with acerbity.

“Harold. You can’t take off one night a year to spend a little time enjoying the company of your fellow man?”

“It’s… unproductive,” Harold said with a sniff. “I see no reason to bother. Or to bother your guests with my presence; I know you’re willing to put up with my less agreeable moods, but—”

“But you do better without the crowds, I know, you’ve said.” He pulled a chair up next to Harold, and plunked down a bottle of champagne. “Still, it wouldn’t be Christmas if I couldn’t share a drink with my closest friends.”

“It hasn’t been Christmas in… four and a half hours,” Harold protested, but his hands fell from the keyboard. “And you make ‘friends’ far too easily; we haven’t even known each other for two years yet. Besides, I annoy you like no one else can—you’ve admitted that much.”

“What better mark of friendship?” Nathan said warmly, holding out a glass. “That you can annoy me so deeply and yet I still want to spend time with you.”

“Sounds like an unhealthy relationship dynamic,” Harold said, but he swiveled on his chair until his knee bumped Nathan’s, and took the glass, a smile twitching at his lips.

“Care to offer a toast?” Nathan asked as he filled it.

“I’m… not really in the mood for celebrating,” Harold admitted, much softer than before. When Nathan merely held his silence, Harold turned his head away and sighed. “The truth of the matter is, it’s not merely an aversion to crowds that kept me from the party; there are things I’d rather not think about, tonight.”

“Well,” Nathan said, and took to filling his own glass. “Suppose we could go with the classics, then, and raise a toast to friends, family, and… absent fathers.”

Startled, Harold shot a look at Nathan, who kept his eyes steadily on his glass. “How…?”

Nathan shrugged. “I’m good at reading people. There’ve been a lot of little hints. And if you want to talk about it, well, even the janitors are off tonight. Just you and me.

“Or if you don’t care to talk about it, we could go the other way,” he added, and lifted a couple of bottles from the floor, placing them next to the champagne: bourbon, brandy, and peppermint schnapps.

“Dear Lord, Nathan. I’d like to have a liver in the morning.”

“You needn’t drink the whole bottle, you know. But we might as well start with champagne. And then you can tell me what’s bugging you, or let me venture a few guesses of my own, or… tell me to bug off and we’ll enjoy the silence for a while. Your choice.”

**Author's Note:**

> Here's hoping your holiday celebrations were good ones, despite everything going on in the world right now. Lately I've been trying to focus on the silver linings, and one thing I can say is that I've seen a lot of surprising creativity that would not have existed were it not for 2020's... peculiar atmosphere. Hope you're finding your own ways to be creative, either publicly or in your personal lives.


End file.
